Gov. Nasiru el-Rufa’l of Kaduna State along side with seven governors, on Friday met with President Muhammadu Buhari at the Presidential Villa, Abuja, and ingeminated the need for him to participate in forthcoming 2019 presidential election.
El-Rufa’l, who addressed the State House correspondents after the closed door meeting with the President, claimed that the meeting held was apolitical, the governors suggested he should re-contest to continue running the country beyond 2019.
He stated that people are free to continue to speculate about the 2019 presidential elections but he and other governors remain interested in stability and continuity of the country.
He said: “We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.
“We believe in Mr. President, we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019, we have no apologies.
“Whether they are right or wrong is beside the point. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion but as governors, and most of us here with the exception of Yobe Governor, are first term governors.
“We are interested in continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.
“Like our leader, the governor of Kano said, we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the president and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.’
Other governors, who met with the president were Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger; Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Jibrilla Bindow of Adamawa and Simon Lalong of Plateau.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had released the 2019 elections timetable and directed political parties to conclude all primary elections by October in readiness for the general elections.
The National Assembly and Presidential elections will be conducted on Feb. 16 while on March 2, the governorship and State Assembly elections holds.
El-Rufa’l, who addressed the State House correspondents after the closed door meeting with the President, claimed that the meeting held was apolitical, the governors suggested he should re-contest to continue running the country beyond 2019.
He stated that people are free to continue to speculate about the 2019 presidential elections but he and other governors remain interested in stability and continuity of the country.
He said: “We are politicians and those of us you see here want the president to contest the 2019 election, we have no apologies for that.
“We believe in Mr. President, we want him to continue running the country in the right direction. People can speculate about 2019, we have no apologies.
“Whether they are right or wrong is beside the point. Everybody is entitled to his or her own opinion but as governors, and most of us here with the exception of Yobe Governor, are first term governors.
“We are interested in continuity and stability and we want the president to continue with that.
“Like our leader, the governor of Kano said, we just happen to be here by coincidence and we went to pray and decided to felicitate with the president and we feel satisfied that anytime we see him, he is getting better and better.’
Other governors, who met with the president were Gov. Abubakar Bello of Niger; Ibrahim Gaidam of Yobe, Yahaya Bello of Kogi, Abdullahi Ganduje of Kano, Jibrilla Bindow of Adamawa and Simon Lalong of Plateau.
The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) had released the 2019 elections timetable and directed political parties to conclude all primary elections by October in readiness for the general elections.
The National Assembly and Presidential elections will be conducted on Feb. 16 while on March 2, the governorship and State Assembly elections holds.
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